When Bae Jin-soo quit his well-paying job at one of South Korea's biggest conglomerates to write stories, his parents were so upset they kicked him out of the house.

But around seventeen years later, Bae is one of the biggest names in South Korea's thriving billion-dollar webtoon industry, having taught himself to draw and penned hits that have been turned into YouTube reality shows, plus a major Netflix series.

The business of webtoons—online-only, mobile-friendly comics—has seen explosive growth around the world since the format emerged 20 years ago in South Korea.

Webtoon Entertainment, the most popular digital comics hosting platform, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the tech-rich US Nasdaq stock exchange.

Owned by the South Korean tech giant Naver, Webtoon could reach a valuation of more than $2.6 billion after the IPO, according to an SEC filing on Monday.

But when Bae started out, his parents—like many people at the time—did not consider being a "comic artist" a viable way to make a living, he told AFP.

Even his friends were worried about his career choice as he "couldn't draw", he said.

But he taught himself how—by taking photographs of himself and his surroundings and then copying them with a pen—while working part-time at a convenience store and delivering pizzas.

Readers' comments that were critical of his early, rudimentary drawings but praised the storyline also spurred him to work harder.

Eventually, he posted his breakout 2012 debut horror hit "Friday" on Naver Webtoon.

Mobile phone literature

Supported by South Korea's ultra-fast internet and smartphone-crazy populace, webtoons are fast becoming the country's latest viral cultural export.

The sector's value in South Korea went from $109 million in 2013 to $1.33 billion by 2022, government figures show.

Naver's Webtoon, the market leader, has around 170 million monthly active users from more than 150 countries, and says it has paid creators over $2.8 billion from 2017 to 2023.

The "average professional creator is earning $48,000 a year and the top 100 are earning $1 million", according to CEO Junkoo Kim.

The genre has already inspired successful K-dramas and film adaptations, including "Misaeng" (2014), "Yumi's Cells" (2021), "Marry My Husband" (2024), and "The 8 Show" (2024), which is based on two of Bae's webtoons.

Creating a drama series based on a popular webtoon means it is already a "work that has been validated in terms of both content and originality", said Park Soon-tae, a producer who worked on webtoon-inspired TV romance "True Beauty".

"Actors and actresses are already familiar with these webtoons and eager to play the roles, which provides an advantage in terms of casting," Park, who works for a production label under South Korea's CJ ENM Studios, told AFP.

But even as webtoon adaptations go global, many readers also remain loyal to the original format.

Reading online allows "stories to develop and evolve in real time as the user scrolls", wrote Webtoon's Kim in the company's SEC filing.

"The use of white space highlights a character's isolation and loneliness. A crowded panel creates chaos. Long blank panels build suspense."

© 2024 AFP